ESRI UC Agenda Planner?

[DaveTenney]

Any update to when the Agenda Planner will be released?

  i last saw may as a general time frame, didnt know if we were any closer?

Dave

[DaveTenney]

well what i dont understand is why in the new app under "my schedule" why there is no calendar view?

    the only thing i can do is see a list by day, would have loved to have an actual calendar view!

oh well, if you see a new guy at the UC walking around with a lost look on his face...thats me!

[RoyceSimpson]

From a developer's point of view... Welcome to the brave new world of "the only way to get things done on the web is via JavaScript (and HTML and CSS)".  Language(s) that were sanctioned 20+ years ago for a mainly static web page paradigm, not "modern web apps".  Now, JavaScript, the poor thing, has been so extended and stretched with frameworks and all manner of geek foolery that it's virtually useless to all but the most dogged, Red Bull fueled, web developers (the ones who are doing all the extending and stretching).  Esri is trying so hard, bless its heart, to make good on this "new and exciting world of JavaScript" that's its hiring totally tricked out web devs right and left to make bright shiny things.  Too bad only a small handful of them can eek out good UX from the HTML/CSS/JS holy trinity.

This planner is a case in point.  I'll bet esri worked really really really hard on it and still, way short of good user experience.  Specifically, the two needs 1)  being able to easily, quickly create and save out individualized planners to give to our supervisors so that we can actually attend the UC and 2) being able to easily add sessions to our calendars right from the planner page.

I'm not trolling here or looking for fights... just stating facts, facts esri is too aware of.  But I get it... there's no other show in town, HTML/JS/CSS are it, so I guess maybe this is trolling.

I know, I know, you can dev in other languages that "compile to JS" Really?  Compile to JavaScript? Think about that for a sec.

The plugins (technology that actually excelled at creating and delivering solid single page web apps) are dead and yet what we are finding is that HTML/CSS/JS are so bad at doing those same single page web apps that along with all that JS geek foolery are things like "web optimizers" which attempt, bless their hearts, to "build" the most streamlined web apps possible, because without these "minifiers", your site sucks.  What we have here folks, is an "every web dev for themselves plugin emulating system" that's based on 20+ year old interpreter driven web technology.  A world that was never ever designed to actually build "apps".

What we desperately need is a complete overhaul of web dev technology.  The kicker is... no one can agree on what that should look like or who should create it, maintain it, etc... and so we have this "wild west" where you have a few skilled, ruthless gun slingers, a lot of scared citizens, shills for sheriffs and lots of open range to conquer.  Or perhaps, think of our current situation as being run by ISIS where Flash and Silverlight were Saddam H. and friends.  Pick your poison.  We are currently in the midst of "HTML/JS/CSS Spring". This planner is a small piece in a very large, complex puzzle... a puzzle that won't be solved for years and years to come.

Let the flame wars begin.

[RoyceSimpson]

Also, I'd add that this is one of the pitfalls of Agile dev methodology.  Assuming this planner app was done via Agile, the requirements for the end solution trickle in and morf over the course of the project from "the customer".  There is no exhaustive "up front" requirements gathering initiative.  Therefore what you get is a product that grows over time, where functionality is added "as needed".  The first release is never fully baked.  The problem is, this UC planner has been through several incarnations, the last of which had some pretty solid functionality.  So, customers expect similar functionality.  Since next year will be "round two" of the esri UC planner project as it is in it's current form, I'm sure we'll see the modifications so desperately needed.

[LonSharp]

I think ESRIs biggest mistake was that, in years past, the on-line agenda and personal planner were released at the same time, as a single application.

People expected that, and when all we got was the agenda it created a lot of frustration.   Even now, on the "My UC" page, it specifically lists availability of the "Agenda/Planner"  as "Now" when clearly it isn't.

All they had to do was split those into two separate items or include a brief "Personal planner coming soon" notation, and they could have avoided much of this thread.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

Agenda App update       July 14

Esri Blog post....and I added some initial suggestions for use (from a user perspective)

[KarenRichardson]

You have had a lot of questions about the Esri Events Mobile and Web Apps, so we put together this FAQ for you. You can find a pdf of this FAQ here. For more information on the agenda, and where to download the app, go here. 

Do you have a question that we haven't answered? Please let us know by commenting. We will be answering questions before and during the conference.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

For those keeping track...looks like there is an iOS agenda app update today​ (July 20)...at the app store